Assyria, also called the Assyrian Empire, was a major Semitic speaking
MesopotamianMesopotamian kingdom and empire of the ancient
Near EastNear East and the
Levant. It existed as a state from perhaps as early as the 25th
century BC in the form of the
AssurAssur city-state,[2] until its collapse
between 612 BC and 609 BC, spanning the Early to Middle Bronze Age
through to the late Iron Age.[3][4] From the end of the seventh
century BC to the mid-seventh century AD, it survived as a
geopolitical entity, for the most part ruled by foreign powers,
although a number of
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian states arose at different times
during the Parthian and early Sasanian Empires between the mid-second
century BC and late third century AD, a period which also saw Assyria
become a major centre of
Syriac ChristianitySyriac Christianity and the birthplace of the
Church of the East.[5]
Centered on the
TigrisTigris in Upper
MesopotamiaMesopotamia (modern northern Iraq,
northeastern Syria, southeastern
TurkeyTurkey and the northwestern fringes
of Iran), the Assyrians came to rule powerful empires at several
times. Making up a substantial part of the greater Mesopotamian
"cradle of civilization", which included Sumer, the
AkkadianAkkadian Empire,
and Babylonia,
AssyriaAssyria was at the height of technological, scientific
and cultural achievements for its time. At its peak, the Assyrian
empire stretched from
CyprusCyprus and the
East Mediterranean to Iran, and
from what is now
ArmeniaArmenia and
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan in the Caucasus, to the
Arabian Peninsula,
EgyptEgypt and eastern Libya.[6]
AssyriaAssyria is named after its original capital, the ancient city of
Aššur, which dates to c. 2600 BC, originally one of a number of
AkkadianAkkadian speaking city states in Mesopotamia. In the 25th and 24th
centuries BC, Assyrian kings were pastoral leaders. From the late 24th
century BC, the Assyrians became subject to Sargon of Akkad, who
united all the Akkadian- and Sumerian-speaking peoples of Mesopotamia
under the
AkkadianAkkadian Empire, which lasted from c. 2334 BC to 2154 BC.[7]
After its fall from power, the greater remaining part of
AssyriaAssyria was a
geopolitical region and province of other empires, although between
the mid-2nd century BC and late 3rd century AD a patchwork of small
independent Assyrian kingdoms arose in the form of Ashur, Adiabene,
Osroene, Beth Nuhadra,
Beth GarmaiBeth Garmai and Hatra.
The region of
AssyriaAssyria fell under the successive control of the Median
Empire, the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Seleucid
Empire, the Parthian Empire, the Roman Empire, and the Sasanian
Empire. The
ArabArabIslamic ConquestIslamic Conquest in the mid-seventh century finally
dissolved
AssyriaAssyria (Assuristan) as a single entity, after which the
remnants of the
Assyrian peopleAssyrian people (by now Christians) gradually became
an ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious minority in the Assyrian
homeland, surviving there to this day as an indigenous people of the
region.[8][9]

Names[edit]
AssyriaAssyria was also sometimes known as
SubartuSubartu and Azuhinum prior to the
rise of the city-state of Ashur, after which it was Aššūrāyu, and
after its fall, from 605 BC through to the late seventh century AD
variously as Achaemenid Assyria, and also referenced as Atouria, Ator,
Athor, and sometimes as
SyriaSyria which etymologically derives from
Assyria[10] according to Strabo,
SyriaSyria (Greek),
AssyriaAssyria (Latin) and
AsōristānAsōristān (Middle Persian). "Assyria" can also refer to the
geographic region or heartland where Assyria, its empires and the
Assyrian peopleAssyrian people were (and still are) centered.
The indigenous modern Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Christian
ethnic minority in northern Iraq, north east Syria, southeast Turkey
and northwest
IranIran are the descendants of the ancient Assyrians (see
Assyrian continuity).[11][12]
Pre-history[edit]

Letter sent by the high-priest Lu'enna to the king of
LagashLagash (maybe
Urukagina), informing him of his son's death in combat, c. 2400 BC,
found in Girsu.

In prehistoric times, the region that was to become known as Assyria
(and Subartu) was home to a
NeanderthalNeanderthal culture such as has been found
at the Shanidar Cave. The earliest
NeolithicNeolithic sites in
AssyriaAssyria were the
JarmoJarmo culture c. 7100 BC and Tell Hassuna, the centre of the Hassuna
culture, c. 6000 BC.
The Akkadian-speaking people (the earliest historically-attested
Semitic-speaking people[13]) who would eventually found
AssyriaAssyria appear
to have entered
MesopotamiaMesopotamia at some point during the latter 4th
millennium BC (c. 3500–3000 BC),[14] eventually intermingling with
the earlier Sumerian-speaking population, with
AkkadianAkkadian names
appearing in written record from as early as the 29th century
BC.[13][15]
During the 3rd millennium BC, a very intimate cultural symbiosis
developed between the Sumerians and the Akkadians throughout
Mesopotamia, which included widespread bilingualism.[16] The influence
of Sumerian (a language isolate) on Akkadian, and vice versa, is
evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to
syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence.[16] This has
prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and
AkkadianAkkadian in the third
millennium BC as a sprachbund.[16]
AkkadianAkkadian gradually replaced
Sumerian as the spoken language of
MesopotamiaMesopotamia somewhere after the
turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating being a
matter of debate),[17] although Sumerian continued to be used as a
sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language in Mesopotamia
until the 1st century AD, as did use of the
AkkadianAkkadian cuneiform.
The cities of Assur, Nineveh,
GasurGasur and Arbela together with a number
of other towns and cities, existed since at least before the middle of
the 3rd millennium BC (c. 2600 BC), although they appear to have been
Sumerian-ruled administrative centres at this time, rather than
independent states.
Greco-Roman classical writers such as Julius Africanus, Marcus
Velleius Paterculus and
Diodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus dated the founding of Assyria
to various dates between 2284 BC and 2057 BC,[18][19][20] listing the
earliest king as Belus or Ninus.
According to the Biblical generations of Noah, which appears to have
been largely compiled between the 7th and 5th centuries BC,[21] the
city of
AššurAššur was allegedly founded by a biblical
Ashur the son of
Shem, who was deified by later generations as the city's patron god.
However, the much older attested Assyrian tradition itself lists the
first king of
AssyriaAssyria as the 25th century BC Tudiya, and an early
urbanised Assyrian king named
Ushpia (c. 2050 BC) as having dedicated
the first temple to the god
Ashur in the city in the mid-21st century
BC. It is highly likely that the city was named in honour of its
patron Assyrian god with the same name.
History[edit]
Main article: Timeline of the Assyrian Empire
Early period[edit]
Main article: Early Period (Assyria)

The city of Aššur, together with a number of other Assyrian cities,
seem to have been established by 2600 BC. However it is likely that
they were initially Sumerian-dominated administrative centres. In the
late 26th century BC,
EannatumEannatum of Lagash, then the dominant Sumerian
ruler in Mesopotamia, mentions "smiting Subartu" (
SubartuSubartu being the
Sumerian name for Assyria). Similarly, in c. the early 25th century
BC,
Lugal-Anne-Mundu the king of the Sumerian state of Adab lists
SubartuSubartu as paying tribute to him.
Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is known. In
the Assyrian King List, the earliest king recorded was Tudiya.
According to
Georges Roux he would have lived in the mid 25th century
BC, i.e. circa 2450 BC. In archaeological reports from Ebla, it
appeared that Tudiya's activities were confirmed with the discovery of
a tablet where he concluded a treaty for the operation of a karum
(trading colony) in Eblaite territory, with "king" Ibrium of
EblaEbla (who
is now known to have been the vizier of
EblaEbla for king Ishar-Damu).
Tudiya was succeeded on the list by Adamu, the first known reference
to the Semitic name Adam[22] and then a further thirteen rulers
(Yangi, Suhlamu, Harharu, Mandaru, Imsu, Harsu, Didanu, Hanu, Zuabu,
Nuabu, Abazu, Belus and Azarah). Nothing concrete is yet known about
these names, although it has been noted that a much later Babylonian
tablet listing the ancestral lineage of Hammurabi, the
AmoriteAmorite king of
Babylon, seems to have copied the same names from
Tudiya through
Nuabu, though in a heavily corrupted form.
The earliest kings, such as Tudiya, who are recorded as kings who
lived in tents, were independent semi-nomadic pastoralist rulers.
These kings at some point became fully urbanised and founded the city
state of
Ashur in the mid 21st century BC.[23]
AkkadianAkkadianEmpireEmpire and Neo-Sumerian Empires[edit]
Further information:
AkkadianAkkadianEmpireEmpire and Neo-Sumerian Empire
During the
AkkadianAkkadianEmpireEmpire (2334–2154 BC), the Assyrians, like all
the
AkkadianAkkadian speaking Mesopotamians (and also the Sumerians), became
subject to the dynasty of the city state of Akkad, centered in central
Mesopotamia. The
AkkadianAkkadianEmpireEmpire founded by
Sargon the GreatSargon the Great claimed
to encompass the surrounding "four quarters". The region of Assyria,
north of the seat of the empire in central Mesopotamia, had also been
known as
SubartuSubartu by the Sumerians, and the name Azuhinum in Akkadian
records also seems to refer to
AssyriaAssyria proper.[24] The Sumerians were
eventually absorbed into the
AkkadianAkkadian (Assyro-Babylonian)
population.[16][17]
Assyrian rulers were subject to Sargon and his successors, and the
city of
Ashur became a regional administrative center of the Empire,
implicated by the Nuzi tablets.[25] During this period, the
Akkadian-speaking Semites of
MesopotamiaMesopotamia came to rule an empire
encompassing not only
MesopotamiaMesopotamia itself but large swathes of Asia
Minor, ancient Iran, Elam, the Arabian Peninsula,
CanaanCanaan and Syria.
AssyriaAssyria seems to have already been firmly involved in trade in Asia
Minor by this time; the earliest known reference to Anatolian karums
in Hatti was found on later cuneiform tablets describing the early
period of the
AkkadianAkkadianEmpireEmpire (c. 2350 BC). On those tablets, Assyrian
traders in
Burushanda implored the help of their ruler, Sargon the
Great, and this appellation continued to exist throughout the Assyrian
EmpireEmpire for about 1,700 years. The name "Hatti" itself even appears in
later accounts of his grandson, Naram-Sin, campaigning in Anatolia.
Assyrian and
AkkadianAkkadian traders spread the use of writing in the form of
the
MesopotamianMesopotamian cuneiform script to
Asia MinorAsia Minor and The
LevantLevant (modern
SyriaSyria and Lebanon). However, towards the end of the reign of Sargon
the Great, the Assyrian faction rebelled against him; "the tribes of
AssyriaAssyria of the upper country—in their turn attacked, but they
submitted to his arms, and Sargon settled their habitations, and he
smote them grievously".[26]
The
AkkadianAkkadianEmpireEmpire was destroyed by economic decline and internal
civil war, followed by attacks from barbarian
Gutian peopleGutian people in 2154
BC. The rulers of
AssyriaAssyria during the period between c. 2154 BC and
2112 BC once again became fully independent, as the
GutiansGutians are only
known to have administered southern Mesopotamia. However, the king
list is the only information from
AssyriaAssyria for this period.
Most of
AssyriaAssyria briefly became part of the Neo-Sumerian
EmpireEmpire (or 3rd
dynasty of Ur) founded in c. 2112 BC. Sumerian domination extended as
far as the city of Ashur, but appears not to have reached
NinevehNineveh and
the far north of Assyria. One local ruler (shakkanakku) named Zāriqum
(who does not appear on any Assyrian king list) is listed as paying
tribute to
Amar-SinAmar-Sin of Ur. Ashur's rulers appear to have remained
largely under Sumerian domination until the mid-21st century BC (c.
2050 BC); the king list names Assyrian rulers for this period and
several are known from other references to have also borne the title
of shakkanakka or vassal governors for the neo-Sumerians.[27][28]
Old Assyrian Empire[edit]
Main article: Old Assyrian Empire

The Old Assyrian
EmpireEmpire is one of four periods into which the history
of
AssyriaAssyria is divided, the other three being: the Early Assyrian
Period, the Middle Assyrian Period and the New Assyrian Period.
AssyriaAssyria was a major
MesopotamianMesopotamian Afro-Asiatic-speaking kingdom and
empire of the ancient Near East. Centered on the Tigris-Euphrates
River System in Upper Mesopotamia, the
Assyrian peopleAssyrian people came to rule
powerful empires at several times. Making up a substantial part of the
"Cradle of Civilization", which included Sumer, the
AkkadianAkkadian Empire,
and Babylonia,
AssyriaAssyria was at the height of technological, scientific
and cultural achievements at its peak.
At its peak, the Assyrian empire ruled over the what the ancient
MesopotamianMesopotamian religion referred to as the "Four Corners of the World":
as far north as the
CaucasusCaucasus Mountains within the lands of what is
today called the Republic of
ArmeniaArmenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan,
as far east as the
Zagros MountainsZagros Mountains within the territory of
present-day Islamic Republic of Iran, as far south as the Arabian
Desert of today's Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as far west as the island
of
CyprusCyprus in the
MediterraneanMediterranean Sea, and even further to the west in
EgyptEgypt and eastern Libya.[6]
AssyriaAssyria is named for its original capital, the ancient city of
Aššur, which dates to c. 2600 BC, originally one of a number of
AkkadianAkkadian city states in Mesopotamia.
AssyriaAssyria was also sometimes known
as
SubartuSubartu and Azuhinum prior to the rise of the city-state of
Aššūr, after which it was Aššūrāyu, and after its fall.
Ushpia (2050–2030 BC) appears to have been the first fully urbanised
independent king of Assyria, and is traditionally held to have
dedicated temples to the god
Ashur in the city of the same name.[29]
He was followed by Sulili,
Kikkiya and Akiya, of whom little is known
aside from
Kikkiya conducting various building works in Assur.
AssyriaAssyria remained strong and secure; when
BabylonBabylon was sacked and its
AmoriteAmorite rulers deposed by the Hittite Empire, and subsequently fell to
the
KassitesKassites in 1595 BC, both powers were unable to make any inroads
into Assyria, and there seems to have been no trouble between the
first Kassite ruler of Babylon, Agum II, and
Erishum IIIErishum III (1598–1586
BC) of Assyria, and a mutually beneficial treaty was signed between
the two rulers.
Shamshi-Adad II (1585–1580 BC), Ishme-Dagan II
(1579–1562 BC) and
Shamshi-Adad III (1562–1548 BC) seem also to
have had peaceful tenures, although few records have thus far been
discovered about their reigns. Similarly,
Ashur-nirari I (1547–1522
BC) seems not to have been troubled by the newly founded Mitanni
EmpireEmpire in Asia Minor, the Hittite empire, or
BabylonBabylon during his
25-year reign. He is known to have been an active king, improving the
infrastructure, dedicating temples and conducting various building
projects throughout the kingdom.
Decline, 1450–1393 BC[edit]
The emergence of the
MitanniMitanniEmpireEmpire in the 16th century BC did
eventually lead to a short period of sporadic Mitannian-Hurrian
domination in the latter half of the 15th century. The
Indo-European-speaking Mitannians are thought to have conquered and
formed the ruling class over the indigenous
HurriansHurrians of eastern
Anatolia. The
HurriansHurrians spoke a language isolate, i.e. neither Semitic
nor Indo-European.
Ashur-nadin-ahhe I (1450–1431 BC) was courted by
the Egyptians, who were rivals of Mitanni, and attempting to gain a
foothold in the Near East.
Amenhotep IIAmenhotep II sent the Assyrian king a
tribute of gold to seal an alliance against the Hurri-Mitannian
empire. It is likely that this alliance prompted Saushtatar, the
emperor of Mitanni, to invade Assyria, and sack the city of Ashur,
after which
AssyriaAssyria became a sometime vassal state, with
Ashur-nadin-ahhe I being deposed by Shaustatar and replaced by his own
brother
Enlil-nasir II (1430–1425 BC) in 1430 BC, who was then made
to pay tribute to the Mitanni.
Ashur-nirari II (1424–1418 BC) had an
uneventful reign, and appears to have also paid tribute to the Mitanni
Empire. The Assyrian monarchy survived, and the
MitannianMitannian influence
appears to have been short lived.
They appear not to have been always willing or indeed able to
interfere in Assyrian internal and international affairs.
Ashur-bel-nisheshuAshur-bel-nisheshu (1417–1409 BC) seems to have been independent of
MitannianMitannian influence, as evidenced by his signing a mutually beneficial
treaty with Karaindash, the Kassite king of
BabyloniaBabylonia in the late 15th
century. He also undertook extensive rebuilding work in
Ashur itself,
and
AssyriaAssyria appears to have redeveloped its former highly
sophisticated financial and economic systems during his reign.
Ashur-rim-nisheshuAshur-rim-nisheshu (1408–1401 BC) also undertook building work,
strengthening the city walls of the capital. Ashur-nadin-ahhe II
(1400–1393 BC) also received a tribute of gold and diplomatic
overtures from Egypt, probably in an attempt to gain Assyrian military
support against Egypt's
MitannianMitannian and Hittite rivals in the region.
However, the Assyrian king appears not to have been in a strong enough
position to challenge
MitanniMitanni or the Hittites.
Eriba-Adad I (1392–1366 BC), a son of Ashur-bel-nisheshu, ascended
the throne in 1392 BC and finally broke the ties to the Mitanni
Empire, and instead began to exert Assyrian influence on the Mitanni.
Middle Assyrian
EmpireEmpire 1392–1056 BC[edit]
Main article: Middle Assyrian Empire

By the reign of
Eriba-Adad I (1392–1366 BC)
MitanniMitanni influence over
AssyriaAssyria was on the wane.
Eriba-Adad I became involved in a dynastic
battle between
Tushratta and his brother
Artatama II and after this
his son Shuttarna III, who called himself king of the
HurriHurri while
seeking support from the Assyrians. The Hittites, having failed to
save Mitanni, allied with
BabylonBabylon in an unsuccessful economic war
against
AssyriaAssyria for many years.
AssyriaAssyria was now a large and powerful
empire, and a major threat to Egyptian and Hittite interests in the
region, and was perhaps the reason that these two powers, fearful of
Assyrian might, made peace with one another.[31]
Shalmaneser's son and successor,
Tukulti-Ninurta ITukulti-Ninurta I (1244–1207 BC),
won a major victory against the
HittitesHittites and their king Tudhaliya IV
at the
Battle of Nihriya and took thousands of prisoners. He then
conquered Babylonia, taking
Kashtiliash IVKashtiliash IV as a captive and ruled
there himself as king for seven years, taking on the old title "King
of
SumerSumer and Akkad" first used by Sargon of Akkad. Tukulti-
NinurtaNinurta I
thus became the first
AkkadianAkkadian speaking native
MesopotamianMesopotamian to rule
the state of Babylonia, its founders having been foreign Amorites,
succeeded by equally foreign Kassites. Tukulti-
NinurtaNinurta petitioned the
god
ShamashShamash before beginning his counter offensive.[32] Kashtiliash IV
was captured, single-handed by Tukulti-
NinurtaNinurta according to his
account, who "trod with my feet upon his lordly neck as though it were
a footstool"[6] and deported him ignominiously in chains to Assyria.
The victorious Assyrians demolished the walls of Babylon, massacred
many of the inhabitants, pillaged and plundered his way across the
city to the
EsagilaEsagila temple, where he made off with the statue of
Marduk.[33]
Middle Assyrian texts recovered at ancient Dūr-Katlimmu, include a
letter from Tukulti-
NinurtaNinurta to his sukkal rabi'u, or grand vizier,
Ashur-iddin advising him of the approach of his general
Shulman-mushabshu escorting the captive Kashtiliash, his wife, and his
retinue which incorporated a large number of women,[34] on his way to
exile after his defeat. In the process he defeated the Elamites, who
had themselves coveted Babylon. He also wrote an epic poem documenting
his wars against
BabylonBabylon and Elam. He progressed further south into
what is today Arabia, conquering the pre-
ArabArabSouth Semitic kingdoms
of
DilmunDilmun and Meluhha. After a Babylonian revolt, he raided and
plundered the temples in Babylon, regarded as an act of sacrilege. As
relations with the priesthood in
Ashur began deteriorating,
Tukulti-
NinurtaNinurta built a new capital city; Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta.[35]
The Aramaeans of northern and central
SyriaSyria were the next targets of
the Assyrian king, who made his way as far as the sources of the
Tigris.[36] The control of the high road to the
MediterraneanMediterranean was
secured by the possession of the Hittite town of Pitru[37] at the
junction between the
EuphratesEuphrates and Sajur; thence he proceeded to
conquer the Canaanite/Phoenician city-states of Byblos, Tyre, Sidon,
Simyra,
BerytusBerytus (Beirut),
AradusAradus and finally
ArvadArvad where he embarked
onto a ship to sail the Mediterranean, on which he killed a nahiru or
"sea-horse" (which
A. Leo Oppenheim translates as a narwhal) in the
sea.[36] He was passionately fond of hunting and was also a great
builder. The general view is that the restoration of the temple of the
gods
Ashur and
HadadHadad at the Assyrian capital of
AssurAssur (Ashur) was one
of his initiatives.[36]
Ashur-bel-kalaAshur-bel-kala (1073–1056 BC) kept the vast empire together,
campaigning successfully against
UrartuUrartu and
PhrygiaPhrygia to the north and
the
ArameansArameans to the west. He maintained friendly relations with
Marduk-shapik-zeriMarduk-shapik-zeri of Babylon, however upon the death of that king, he
invaded
BabyloniaBabylonia and deposed the new ruler Kadašman-Buriaš,
appointing
Adad-apla-iddina as his vassal in Babylon. He built some of
the earliest examples of both
Zoological GardensZoological Gardens and Botanical Gardens
in Ashur, collecting all manner of animals and plants from his empire,
and receiving a collection of exotic animals as tributes from Egypt.
Late in his reign, the Middle Assyrian
EmpireEmpire erupted into civil war,
when a rebellion was orchestrated by Tukulti-Mer, a pretender to the
throne of Assyria.
Ashur-bel-kalaAshur-bel-kala eventually crushed Tukulti-Mer and
his allies, however the civil war in
AssyriaAssyria had allowed hordes of
ArameansArameans to take advantage of the situation, and press in on Assyrian
controlled territory from the west.
Ashur-bel-kalaAshur-bel-kala counterattacked
them, and conquered as far as
CarchemishCarchemish and the source of the Khabur
river, but by the end of his reign many of the areas of
SyriaSyria and
Phoenicia-
CanaanCanaan to the west of these regions as far as the
Mediterranean, previously under firm Assyrian control, were eventually
lost to the Assyrian Empire.
Society and law in the Middle Assyrian Period[edit]
The Middle Assyrian kingdom was well organized, and in the firm
control of the king, who also functioned as the High Priest of Ashur,
the state god. He had certain obligations to fulfill in the cult, and
had to provide resources for the temples. The priesthood became a
major power in Assyrian society. Conflicts with the priesthood are
thought to have been behind the murder of king Tukulti-
NinurtaNinurta I.
The Middle Assyrian Period was marked by the long wars fought that
helped build
AssyriaAssyria into a warrior society. The king depended on both
the citizen class and priests in his capital, and the landed nobility
who supplied the horses needed by Assyria's military. Documents and
letters illustrate the importance of the latter to Assyrian society.
AssyriaAssyria needed less artificial irrigation than Babylonia, and
horse-breeding was extensive. Portions of elaborate texts about the
care and training of them have been found. Trade was carried out in
all directions. The mountain country to the north and west of Assyria
was a major source of metal ore, as well as lumber. Economic factors
were a common casus belli.
All free male citizens were obliged to serve in the army for a time, a
system which was called the ilku-service. A legal code was produced
during the 14th and 13th centuries which, among other things, clearly
shows that the social position of women in
AssyriaAssyria was lower than that
of neighbouring societies. Men were permitted to divorce their wives
with no compensation paid to the latter. If a woman committed
adultery, she could be beaten or put to death. It's not certain if
these laws were seriously enforced, but they appear to be a backlash
against some older documents that granted things like equal
compensation to both partners in divorce.
The women of the king's harem and their servants were also subject to
harsh punishments, such as beatings, mutilation, and death. Assyria,
in general, had much harsher laws than most of the region. Executions
were not uncommon, nor were whippings followed by forced labour. Some
offenses allowed the accused a trial under torture or duress. One
tablet that covers property rights has brutal penalties for violators.
A creditor could force debtors to work for him, but not sell them.
In the Middle Assyrian Laws, sex crimes were punished identically
whether they were homosexual or heterosexual.[38] An individual faced
no punishment for penetrating a cult prostitute, someone of an equal
social class, or someone whose gender roles were not considered
solidly masculine. Such sexual relations were even seen as good
fortune.[39] However, homosexual relationships with royal attendants,
between soldiers, or with those where a social better was submissive
or penetrated were either treated as rape or seen as bad omens, and
punishments applied.[38] One historian notes that the laws would not
be so detailed "if homosexual behavior were not a familiar aspect of
daily life of early Mesopotamia."[40]
AssyriaAssyria during the
Bronze AgeBronze Age Collapse, 1055–936 BC[edit]
The
Bronze AgeBronze Age Collapse from 1200 BC to 900 BC was a dark age for the
entire Near East, North Africa, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Mediterranean
and
BalkanBalkan regions, with great upheavals and mass movements of people.
AssyriaAssyria and its empire were not unduly affected by these tumultuous
events for some 150 years, perhaps the only ancient power that was
not. However, upon the death of
Ashur-bel-kalaAshur-bel-kala in 1056 BC, Assyria
went into a comparative decline for the next 100 or so years. The
empire shrank significantly, and by 1020 BC
AssyriaAssyria appears to have
controlled only areas close to
AssyriaAssyria itself, essential to keeping
trade routes open in eastern Aramea, south eastern Asia Minor, central
MesopotamiaMesopotamia and north western Iran.
New West Semitic-speaking peoples such as the Arameans,
ChaldeansChaldeans and
Suteans moved into areas to the west and south of Assyria, including
overrunning much of
BabyloniaBabylonia to the south, Indo-European speaking
IranicIranic peoples such as the Medes, Persians,
SarmatiansSarmatians and Parthians
moved into the lands to the east of Assyria, displacing the native
KassitesKassites and
GutiansGutians and pressuring
ElamElam and
ManneaMannea (all of which
ancient non Indo-European civilisations of Ancient Iran), and to the
north in
Asia MinorAsia Minor the
PhrygiansPhrygians overran that part of the Hittites
not already destroyed by Assyria, and
LydiaLydia emerged, a new Hurrian
state named
UrartuUrartu arose in the Caucasus, and Cimmerians, Colchians
(Georgians) and
ScythiansScythians around the
Black SeaBlack Sea and Caucasus.
EgyptEgypt was
divided and in disarray, and
IsraelitesIsraelites were battling with other West
Asian peoples such as the Amalekites, Moabites,
EdomitesEdomites and Ammonites
and the non-Semitic-speaking Peleset/
PhilistinesPhilistines (who have been
conjectured to be one of the so-called Sea Peoples)[41][42] for the
control of southern Canaan.
Dorian GreeksDorian Greeks usurped the earlier
Mycenaean GreeksMycenaean Greeks in western Asia Minor, and the
Sea PeoplesSea Peoples ravaged
the Eastern Mediterranean.
Other new peoples, such as the Sarmatians, Arabs,
NubiansNubians and Kushites
were to emerge later, during the
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian Empire.

Assyrian horsemen pursue defeated Arabs.

Despite the apparent weakness of
AssyriaAssyria in comparison to its former
might, at heart it in fact remained a solid, well defended nation
whose warriors were the best in the world[citation needed]. Assyria,
with its stable monarchy, powerful army and secure borders was in a
stronger position during this time than potential rivals such as
Egypt, Babylonia, Elam, Phrygia, Urartu, Persia,
LydiaLydia and Media.
Kings such as Ashur-bel-kala, Eriba-
AdadAdad II, Ashur-rabi II,
Ashurnasirpal I,
Tiglath-Pileser II and
Ashur-Dan IIAshur-Dan II successfully
defended Assyria's borders and upheld stability during this tumultuous
time.
Assyrian kings during this period appear to have adopted a policy of
maintaining and defending a compact, secure nation and satellite
colonies immediately surrounding it, and interspersed this with
sporadic punitive raids and invasions of neighbouring territories when
the need arose.
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian Empire[edit]
Main articles:
Neo-Assyrian EmpireNeo-Assyrian Empire and Military history of the
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian Empire

Assyrian
EmpireEmpire to the death of Ashurbanipal,in dark green the
pahitu/pahutu (provinces),in yellow the matu (subjects kingdoms), in
cream color the
BabylonBabylon kingdom, the yellow points show other subjects
kingdoms, the black points show the pahitu/pahutu (provinces) of
BabylonBabylon kingdom, and the brown letters provinces that existed
previously

Ashurbanipal's brutal campaign against
ElamElam in 647 BC is recorded in
this relief.

Ultimately,
AssyriaAssyria conquered Babylonia, Chaldea, Elam, Media, Persia,
UrartuUrartu (Armenia), Phoenicia, Aramea/Syria, Phrygia, the Neo-Hittite
States, the
HurrianHurrian lands, Arabia, Gutium, Israel, Judah, Samarra,
Moab, Edom, Corduene, Cilicia, Mannea, and Cyprus, and defeated and/or
exacted tribute from Scythia, Cimmeria, Lydia, Nubia,
EthiopiaEthiopia and
others. At its height, the
EmpireEmpire encompassed the whole of the modern
nations of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan,
Kuwait, Bahrain, Palestine and Cyprus, together with large swathes of
Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Sudan, Libya, Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan.
Downfall, 626–609 BC[edit]
The Assyrian
EmpireEmpire was severely crippled following the death of
AshurbanipalAshurbanipal in 627 BC—the nation and its empire descending into a
prolonged and brutal series of civil wars involving three rival kings,
Ashur-etil-ilani,
Sin-shumu-lishir and Sin-shar-ishkun. Egypt's 26th
Dynasty, which had been installed by the Assyrians as vassals, quietly
detached itself from Assyria, although it was careful to retain
friendly relations.
The
ScythiansScythians and
CimmeriansCimmerians took advantage of the bitter fighting
among the Assyrians to raid Assyrian colonies, with hordes of
horse-borne marauders ravaging parts of
Asia MinorAsia Minor and the Caucasus,
where the vassal kings of
UrartuUrartu and
LydiaLydia begged their Assyrian
overlord for help in vain. They also raided the Levant,
IsraelIsrael and
Judah (where
AshkelonAshkelon was sacked by the Scythians) and all the way
into
EgyptEgypt whose coasts were ravaged and looted with impunity.
The
IranicIranic peoples (the Medes,
PersiansPersians and Parthians), aided by the
previous Assyrian destruction of the hitherto dominant
ElamitesElamites of
Ancient Iran, also took advantage of the upheavals in
AssyriaAssyria to
coalesce into a powerful Median-dominated force which destroyed the
pre-
IranicIranic Assyrian vassal kingdom of
ManneaMannea and absorbed the remnants
of the pre-
IranicIranicElamitesElamites of southern Iran, and the equally
pre-
IranicIranic Gutians,
ManneansManneans and
KassitesKassites of the
Zagros MountainsZagros Mountains and
the Caspian Sea.
CyaxaresCyaxares (technically a vassal of Assyria), in an alliance with the
ScythiansScythians and Cimmerians, launched a surprise attack on a civil war
beleaguered
AssyriaAssyria in 615 BC, sacking
KalhuKalhu (the Biblical
Calah/Nimrud) and taking
ArrapkhaArrapkha (modern Kirkuk) and Gasur.
Nabopolassar, still pinned down in southern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia by Assyrian
forces, was completely uninvolved in this major breakthrough against
Assyria.
Despite the sorely depleted state of Assyria, bitter fighting ensued;
throughout 614 BC the alliance of powers continued to gradually make
hard fought inroads into
AssyriaAssyria itself, however in 613 BC the
Assyrians somehow rallied against the odds and scored a number of
counterattacking victories over the Medes-Persians,
Babylonians-
ChaldeansChaldeans and Scythians-Cimmerians. This led to the
coalition of forces ranged against it to unite and launch a massive
combined attack in 612 BC, finally besieging and entering
NinevehNineveh in
late 612 BC, with
Sin-shar-ishkun being slain in the bitter street by
street fighting. Despite the loss of almost all of its major cities,
and in the face of overwhelming odds, Assyrian resistance continued
under
Ashur-uballit II (612–609 BC), who fought his way out of
NinevehNineveh and coalesced Assyrian forces around
HarranHarran which finally fell
in 609 BC, ending the Assyrian Empire.[44] During the aftermath,
Egypt, along with remnants of the Assyrian army, suffered a defeat at
the battle of Carchemish. Certainly by 609 BC at the very
latest,[45][46]
AssyriaAssyria had been destroyed as an independent political
entity, although it was to launch major rebellions against the
Achaemenid EmpireAchaemenid Empire in 546 BC and 520 BC, and remained a geo-political
region, ethnic entity and colonised province until the late 7th
century AD, with small Assyrian states emerging in the region between
the 2nd century BC and 4th century AD.
AssyriaAssyria after the empire[edit]
Achaemenid Assyria, Osroene, Asōristān,
AthuraAthura and Hatra[edit]
Main articles: Osroene, Asōristān, Athura, and Hatra
AssyriaAssyria was initially ruled by the short lived Median Empire
(609–549 BC) after its fall. In a twist of fate,
NabonidusNabonidus the last
king of
BabylonBabylon (together with his son and co-regent Belshazzar) was
himself an Assyrian from Harran. He had overthrown the short lived
Chaldean dynasty in Babylonia, after which the
ChaldeansChaldeans disappeared
from history, being fully absorbed into the native population of
Babylonia. However, apart from plans to dedicate religious temples in
the city of Harran,
NabonidusNabonidus showed little interest in rebuilding
Assyria.
NinevehNineveh and
KalhuKalhu remained in ruins with only small numbers
of Assyrians living within them, conversely a number of towns and
cities such as Arrapkha, Guzana,
NohadraNohadra and
HarranHarran remained intact,
and
AssurAssur and Arbela (Irbil) were not completely destroyed, as is
attested by their later revival. However,
AssyriaAssyria spent much of this
short period in a degree of devastation following its fall.
Achaemenid AssyriaAchaemenid Assyria (549–330 BC)[edit]
Main article: Achaemenid Assyria
After the
MedesMedes were overthrown by the
PersiansPersians as the dominant force
in Ancient Iran,
AssyriaAssyria was ruled by the Persian Achaemenid Empire
(as Athura) from 549 BC to 330 BC (see Achaemenid Assyria). Between
546 and 545 BC,
AssyriaAssyria rebelled against the new Persian Dynasty,
which had usurped the previous Median dynasty. The rebellion centered
around
TyarehTyareh was eventually quashed by Cyrus the Great.
AssyriaAssyria seems to have recovered dramatically, and flourished during
this period. It became a major agricultural and administrative centre
of the Achaemenid Empire, and its soldiers were a mainstay of the
Persian Army.[47] In fact,
AssyriaAssyria even became powerful enough to
raise another full-scale revolt against the Persian empire in
520–519 BC.
The
PersiansPersians had spent centuries under Assyrian domination (their
first ruler
Achaemenes and his successors, having been vassals of
Assyria), and Assyrian influence can be seen in Achaemenid art,
infrastructure and administration. Early Persian rulers saw themselves
as successors to Ashurbanipal, and
MesopotamianMesopotamianAramaicAramaic was retained
as the lingua franca of the empire for over two hundred years, and
Greek writers such as
ThucydidesThucydides still referred to it as the Assyrian
language.[48]
NinevehNineveh was never rebuilt however, and 200 years after
it was sacked
XenophonXenophon reported only small numbers of Assyrians living
amongst its ruins. Conversely the ancient city of
AssurAssur once more
became a rich and prosperous entity.[49]
It was in 5th century BC
AssyriaAssyria that the
Syriac languageSyriac language and Syriac
script evolved. Five centuries later these were later to have a global
influence as the liturgical language and written script for Syriac
ChristianityChristianity and its accompanying
Syriac literatureSyriac literature which also emerged
in
AssyriaAssyria before spreading throughout the Near East, Asia Minor, The
Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and China.
Macedonian and Seleucid Assyria[edit]
In 332 BC,
AssyriaAssyria fell to Alexander the Great, the Macedonian
Emperor, who called the inhabitants Assyrioi. The Macedonian Empire
(332–312) was partitioned in 312 BC. It thereafter became part of
the Seleucid
EmpireEmpire (312 BC). It is from this period that the later
SyriaSyria vs
AssyriaAssyria naming controversy arises, the Seleucids applied the
name 'Syria' which is a 9th-century BC
Indo-Anatolian derivation of
'Assyria' (see Etymology of Syria) not only to
AssyriaAssyria itself, but
also to the Levantine lands to the west (historically known as Aram
and Eber Nari), which had been part of the Assyrian empire but, the
north east corner aside, never a part of
AssyriaAssyria proper.
When the Seleucids lost control of
AssyriaAssyria proper, the name Syria
survived but was erroneously applied not only to the land of Assyria
itself, but also now to
ArameaAramea (also known as Eber Nari) to the west
that had once been part of the Assyrian empire, but apart from the
north eastern corner, had never been a part of
AssyriaAssyria itself, nor
inhabited by Assyrians. This was to lead to both the Assyrians from
Northern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia and the
ArameansArameans and Phoenicians from the Levant
being collectively dubbed Syrians (and later also Syriacs) in
Greco-Roman and later European culture, regardless of ethnicity,
history or geography.
During Seleucid rule, Assyrians ceased to hold the senior military,
economic and civil positions they had enjoyed under the Achaemenids,
being largely replaced by Greeks. The
Greek languageGreek language also replaced
MesopotamianMesopotamian East
AramaicAramaic as the lingua franca of the empire, although
this did not affect the Assyrian population themselves, who were not
Hellenised during the Seleucid era.
During the Seleucid period in southern Mesopotamia,
BabylonBabylon was
gradually abandoned in favour of a new city named Seleucia on the
Tigris, effectively bringing an end to
BabyloniaBabylonia as a geo-political
entity.
Parthian
AssyriaAssyria (150 BC – 225 AD)[edit]
Main article: Adiabene
By 150 BC,
AssyriaAssyria was largely under the control of the Parthian
Empire. The
ParthiansParthians seem to have exercised only loose control over
Assyria, and between the mid 2nd century BC and 4th century AD a
number of
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian states arose; these included the ancient
capital of
AssurAssur itself,
AdiabeneAdiabene with its capital of Arbela (modern
Irbil),
Beth NuhadraBeth Nuhadra with its capital of
NohadraNohadra (modern Dohuk),
Osroene, with its capitals of
EdessaEdessa and
AmidAmid (modern
SanliurfaSanliurfa and
Diyarbakir), Hatra, and "ܒܝܬܓܪܡܝ" (Beth Garmai) with its
capital at
ArraphaArrapha (modern Kirkuk).[50] Adiabenian rulers converted to
Judaism from paganism in the 1st century.[51] After 115 CE, there are
no historic traces of Jewish royalty in Adiabene.
These freedoms were accompanied by a major Assyrian cultural revival,
and temples to the Assyrian national gods Ashur, Sin, Hadad, Ishtar,
Ninurta, Tammuz and
ShamashShamash were once more dedicated throughout
AssyriaAssyria and Upper
MesopotamiaMesopotamia during this period.[52]
In addition,
ChristianityChristianity arrived in
AssyriaAssyria soon after the death of
Christ and the Assyrians began to gradually convert to Christianity
from the ancient
MesopotamianMesopotamian religion during the period between the
early first and third centuries.
AssyriaAssyria became an important centre of
Syriac ChristianitySyriac Christianity and Syriac Literature, with the Church of the East
evolving in Assyria, and the
Syriac Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox Church partly also, with
OsroeneOsroene becoming the first independent
ChristianChristian state in history.[5]
Roman
AssyriaAssyria (116–8)[edit]
Main article:
AssyriaAssyria (Roman province)
However, in 116, under Trajan,
AssyriaAssyria and its independent states were
briefly taken over by Rome as the province of Assyria. The Assyrian
kingdom of
AdiabeneAdiabene was destroyed as an independent state during this
period. Roman rule lasted only a few years, and the
ParthiansParthians once
more regained control with the help of the Assyrians, who were incited
to overthrow the Roman garrisons by the Parthian king. However, a
number of Assyrians were conscripted into the Roman Army, with many
serving in the region of
Hadrian's WallHadrian's Wall in Roman Britain, and
inscriptions in
AramaicAramaic made by soldiers have been discovered in
Northern EnglandNorthern England dating from the second century.[53]
With loose Parthian rule restored,
AssyriaAssyria and its patchwork of states
continued much as they had before the Roman interregnum, although
AssyriaAssyria and
MesopotamiaMesopotamia as a whole became a front line between the
Roman and Parthian empires. Other new religious movements also emerged
in the form of gnostic sects such as Mandeanism, as well as the now
extinct
ManicheanManichean religion.
ChristianChristian period[edit]
Sassanid
AssyriaAssyria (226 – c. 650)[edit]
Main article: Asōristān
In 226,
AssyriaAssyria was largely taken over by the Sasanian Empire. After
driving out the Romans and Parthians, the Sassanid rulers set about
annexing the independent states within
AssyriaAssyria during the mid- to late
3rd century, the last being
AssurAssur itself in the late 250's to early
260's.
ChristianityChristianity continued to spread, and many of the ethnically
Assyrian churches that exist today are among the oldest in the world.
For example, the
Syriac Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox Church is purported to have been
founded by
St PeterSt Peter himself in 67 AD.
Nevertheless, although predominantly Christian, a minority of
Assyrians still held onto their ancient
MesopotamianMesopotamian religion until as
late as the 10th or 11th century AD.[54][55] The Assyrians lived in a
province known as Asuristan, and the region was on the frontier of the
Byzantine and Sassanian empires.
The land was known as
AsōristānAsōristān (the Sassanid Persian name meaning
"Land of the Assyrians") during this period, and became the birthplace
of the distinct
Church of the EastChurch of the East (now split into the Assyrian Church
of the East, Ancient
Church of the EastChurch of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church)
and a centre of the Syriac Orthodox Church, with a flourishing Syriac
(Assyrian)
ChristianChristian culture which exists there to this day. Temples
were still being dedicated to the national god
Ashur (as well as other
MesopotamianMesopotamian gods) in his home city, in
HarranHarran and elsewhere during
the 4th and 5th centuries AD, indicating the ancient pre-Christian
Assyrian identity was still extant to some degree.
During the Sasanian period, much of what had once been
BabyloniaBabylonia in
southern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia was incorporated into Assyria, and in effect the
whole of
MesopotamiaMesopotamia came to be known as Asōristān. Parts of Assyria
appear to have been semi independent as late as the latter part of the
4th century AD, with a king named
SennacheribSennacherib II reputedly ruling the
northern reaches in 370s AD.
ArabArab Islamic conquest (630–780)[edit]
Centuries of constant warfare between the Byzantine
EmpireEmpire and
Sassanid
EmpireEmpire left both empires exhausted, which made both of them
open to loss in a war against the
MuslimMuslimArabArab army, under the newfound
Rashidun Caliphate. After the early Islamic conquests,
AssyriaAssyria was
dissolved as an official administrative entity by an empire. Under
ArabArab rule,
MesopotamiaMesopotamia as a whole underwent a gradual process of
further
ArabisationArabisation and the beginning of Islamification, and the
region saw a large influx of non indigenous Arabs, Kurds, Iranian, and
Turkic peoples.
However, the indigenous Assyrian population of northern Mesopotamia
retained their language, religion, culture and identity.
Under the
ArabArab Islamic empires, the
ChristianChristian Assyrians were classed
as dhimmis, who had certain restrictions imposed upon them. Assyrians
were thus excluded from specific duties and occupations reserved for
Muslims, they did not enjoy the same political rights as Muslims,
their word was not equal to that of a
MuslimMuslim in legal and civil
matters without a
MuslimMuslim witness, they were subject to payment of a
special tax (jizyah) and they were banned from spreading their
religion further in Muslim-ruled lands. However, personal matters such
as marriage and divorce were governed by the cultural laws of the
Assyrians.[56][57]
For those reasons, and even during the Sassanian period before Islamic
rule, The Assyrian
Church of the EastChurch of the East formed a church structure that
spread Nestorian
ChristianityChristianity to as far away as China, in order to
proselytize away from Muslim-ruled regions In
IranIran and their homeland
in Mesopotamia, with evidence of their massive church structure being
the Nestorian Stele, an artifact found in China which documented over
100 years of
ChristianChristian history in China from 600 to 781 AD.[58]
Assyrian
ChristiansChristians maintained relations with fellow
ChristiansChristians in
ArmeniaArmenia and Georgia throughout the Middle Ages. In the 12th century
AD, Assyrian priests interceded on behalf of persecuted
ArabArab Muslims
in Georgia.[59] The Assyrian Church structure thrived during the
period of 600–1300, and is regarded[by whom?] as a golden age for
Assyrians.
Mongol
EmpireEmpire (1200–1300)[edit]
The first signs of trouble for the Assyrians started in the 13th
century, when the Mongols first invaded the
Near EastNear East after the fall
of
BaghdadBaghdad in 1258 to Hulagu Khan.[60] Assyrians at first did very
well under Mongol rule, as the
ShamanistShamanist Mongols were sympathetic to
them, with Assyrian priests having traveled to Mongolia centuries
before. The Mongols in fact spent most of their time oppressing
Muslims and Jews, outlawing the practice of circumcision and halal
butchery, as they found them repulsive and violent.[61] Therefore, as
one of the only groups in the region looked at in a good light,
Assyrians were given special privileges and powers, with Hülegü even
appointing an Assyrian Christian[disambiguation needed] governor to
ErbilErbil (Arbela), and allowing the
Syriac Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox Church to build a
church there.[62]

However, the Mongol rulers in the
Near EastNear East eventually converted to
Islam. Sustained persecutions of
ChristiansChristians throughout the entirety of
the
IlkhanateIlkhanate began in earnest in 1295 under the rule of
OïratOïrat amir
Nauruz, which affected the indigenous Assyrian
ChristiansChristians greatly.[63]
During the reign of the Ilkhan Öljeitü, the Assyrian Christian
inhabitants of
ErbilErbil seized control of the citadel and much of the
city in rebellion against the Muslims. In spring 1310, the Mongol
MalikMalik (governor) of the region attempted to seize it from them with
the help of the
KurdsKurds and Arabs, but was defeated. After his defeat he
decided to siege the city. The Assyrians held out for three months,
but the citadel was at last taken by
IlkhanateIlkhanate troops and Arab, Turkic
and Kurdish tribesmen on July 1, 1310. The defenders of the citadel
fought to the last man, and many of the Assyrian inhabitants of the
lower town were subsequently massacred.[64][65]
Regardless of these hardships, the
Assyrian peopleAssyrian people remained
numerically dominant in the north of
MesopotamiaMesopotamia as late as the 14th
century AD, and the city of
AssurAssur functioned as their religious and
cultural capital. However, in the mid-14th century the
MuslimMuslim Turk
ruler
TamurlaneTamurlane conducted a religiously motivated massacre of the
indigenous Assyrian Christians, and worked tirelessly to destroy the
vast Assyrian Church structure established throughout the Far East,
destroying the entire structure of the church with the exception of
the St Thomas
ChristiansChristians of the
Malabar CoastMalabar Coast in India, whom number 10
million or so in modern times.[66] After Timurs campaign, The Assyrian
Cultural and religious capital of
AssurAssur was completely destroyed,
thousands of Assyrians were massacred, the vast church structure of
the Assyrian
Church of the EastChurch of the East was decimated, and the Assyrian
population was from that point on reduced to a small minority living
within
MuslimMuslim dominated lands.[67]
Breakup of the Assyrian Church (1500–1780)[edit]
Around 100 years after the massacres by Timur, a religious schism
known as the
Schism of 1552Schism of 1552 occurred among the Assyrians of northern
Mesopotamia, when a large number of followers of the Assyrian Church
of the East in
AmidAmid elected a rival
PatriarchPatriarch named Shimun VIII
Yohannan Sulaqa after becoming dissatisfied with the leadership of the
Assyrian Church, at this point based in Alqosh. Due to a need for an
ordination by a metropolitan bishop, Sulaqa went into communion with
the
Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Church after at first failing to gain acceptance
within the Syriac Orthodox Church. Rome named this new church The
Church of Assyria and MosulChurch of Assyria and Mosul and its first leader
PatriarchPatriarch of the East
Assyrians in 1553 AD.
Soon after coming back Sulaqa was assassinated by supporters of the
rival patriarch in Alqosh, but was able to form a new church structure
and line of succession known as the Shimun Line prior to his death.
This group of Assyrians eventually broke off ties with Rome, moved en
masse to the
HakkariHakkari Mountains, and returned to the Assyrian church
they once adhered to prior to the Schism of 1552, while still
operating independently from the original Assyrian Church structure
based in Alqosh.
A decade or so before the Shimun line broke off ties with Rome,
another faction within the Assyrian Church entered into communion with
Rome known as the Josephite line, and upon the Shimun line leaving,
inherited the now vacant Church of
AssyriaAssyria and Mosul, which was
renamed the "Chaldean Catholic Church" by The Vatican in 1683. This is
now believed to be due to an error by the
Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Church which
already had a history of labelling eastern
ChristiansChristians (including
Cypriots) as Chaldeans, but due to that error, some of their followers
became known as
Chaldean CatholicsChaldean Catholics or Chaldo-Assyrians, despite having
absolutely no ethnic, historical, linguistic, cultural or geographic
connections whatsoever to the by now long extinct Chaldean tribe of
south east Mesopotamia. However, these appellations appear to have
only emerged relatively recently, as in the late 19th century, Hormuzd
Rassam, himself a member of the Chaldean Catholic Church, states that
church members were using the ethnic term Assyrian and the theological
term Nestorian to describe themselves.[68][69]
Later on in the 1830s the original Assyrian Church of the East
structure in
AlqoshAlqosh combined with the Catholic one, creating the
modern
Chaldean Catholic ChurchChaldean Catholic Church structure, which is ironic considering
that the only remaining ethnic Assyrian Church to practice the
Assyrian
Church of the EastChurch of the East denomination was the first one to split
from the Assyrian
Church of the EastChurch of the East back in 1552. There was also
another Nestorian Denomination known as the Ancient Church of the
East, which split from the Assyrian
Church of the EastChurch of the East due to reforms
passed under the rule of
Shimun XXIII EshaiShimun XXIII Eshai in the 1960s, but with the
election of
Gewargis IIIGewargis III in 2015 the churches had a reconciliation,
and reunited.
In addition to the Eastern Rite Churches, The Syriac Orthodox Church
also has a large number of ethnically Assyrian Adherents, who are
known sometimes as Syriacs, the term 'Syriac' being etymologically
derived from 'Assyrian'. The
Syriac Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox Church has 5 million
adherents across the globe, but is based in Damascus. However, since
the 11th century it was based in the
Saffron MonasterySaffron Monastery of Tur Abdin,
and prior to that it was based in Antioch. Like the Nestorian
churches, schisms also occurred within the Syriac Orthodox Church. In
1626
JesuitJesuit and Capuchin missionaries began to proselytize among the
Syriac Orthodox faithful at Aleppo, forming a larger pro-catholic
movement within the Syriac Orthodox Church. So in 1662, when the
Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate had fallen vacant, the Catholic party was
able to elect one of its own, Andrew Akijan as
PatriarchPatriarch of the Syriac
Church. This provoked a split in the community, and after Akijan’s
death in 1677 two opposing patriarchs were elected, with one of those
becoming the first
PatriarchPatriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church. This line
of succession died out quickly, however, but in 1782 with the election
of Michael Jarweh as
PatriarchPatriarch the Ignatius line has been the head of
the
Syriac Catholic ChurchSyriac Catholic Church since then, and also has its base in
Damascus.
Modern history[edit]
Ottoman
EmpireEmpire (1900–1928)[edit]

After these splits, the Assyrians suffered a number of religiously and
ethnically motivated massacres throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th
centuries,[70] such as the
Massacres of Badr KhanMassacres of Badr Khan which resulted in
the massacre of over 10,000 Assyrians in the 1840s,[71] culminating in
the large scale
Hamidian massacresHamidian massacres of unarmed men, women and children
by Turks and
KurdsKurds in the 1890s at the hands of the Ottoman
EmpireEmpire and
its associated (largely Kurdish and Arab) militias, which greatly
reduced their numbers, particularly in southeastern
TurkeyTurkey where over
25,000 Assyrians were murdered.[72] The
Adana massacreAdana massacre of 1909 largely
aimed at Armenian
ChristiansChristians also accounted for the murder of some
1,500 Assyrians.[73]
The Assyrians suffered a further catastrophic series of events during
World War IWorld War I in the form of the religiously and ethnically motivated
Assyrian GenocideAssyrian Genocide at the hands of the
Ottomans and their Kurdish and
ArabArab allies from 1915 to 1918.[74][75][76][77] Some sources claim that
the highest number of Assyrians killed during the period was 750,000,
while a 1922 Assyrian assessment set it at 275,000. The Assyrian
GenocideGenocide ran largely in conjunction with the similarly
ethno-religiously motivated Armenian Genocide,
Greek GenocideGreek Genocide and
Great Famine of Mount Lebanon.
In reaction against Ottoman cruelty, the Assyrians took up arms, and
an
Assyrian war of independenceAssyrian war of independence was fought during
World War IWorld War I which
took place in what is today south eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, north
western
IranIran and north eastern Syria. For a time, the Assyrians fought
successfully against overwhelming numbers, scoring a number of
victories against the
Ottomans and Kurds, and also hostile
ArabArab and
Iranian groups. However, due to the collapse of the Russian
Empire—due to the Russian Revolution—and the similar collapse of
the Armenian Defense, the Assyrians were left without allies. As a
result, The Assyrians were vastly outnumbered, outgunned, surrounded,
cut off, and without supplies. The only option they had was to flee
the region into northwest
IranIran and fight their way, with around 50,000
civilians in tow, to British train lines going to Mandatory Iraq. The
sizable Assyrian presence in south eastern
AnatoliaAnatolia which had endured
for over four millennia was thus reduced to no more than 15,000 by the
end of World War I, and by 1924 many of those who remained were
forcibly expelled in a display of ethnic cleansing by the Turkish
government, with many leaving and later founding villages in the Sapna
and Nahla valleys in the
DohukDohuk Governorate of Iraq.
In 1920 the Assyrian settlements in
MindanMindan and
BaqubaBaquba were attacked by
Iraqi Arabs, but the Assyrian tribesmen displayed their military
prowess by successfully defeating and driving off the
ArabArab forces.[78]
The Assyrians also sided with the British during the Iraqi revolt
against the British.
The
Assyrian LeviesAssyrian Levies were founded by the British in 1922, with ancient
Assyrian military rankings, such as Rab-shakeh, Rab-talia and Turtanu,
being revived for the first time in millennia for this force. The
Assyrians were prized by the British rulers for their fighting
qualities, loyalty, bravery and discipline, and were used to help the
British put down insurrections among the Arabs,
KurdsKurds and Turcoman,
guard the borders with
IranIran and Turkey, and protect British military
installations. During the 1920s Assyrian levies saw action in
effectively defeating
ArabArab and Kurdish forces during anti-British
rebellions in Iraq.[78][79][80]
Simele MassacreSimele Massacre and
World War IIWorld War II (1930–1950)[edit]

Map of Assyrian populated areas

After
IraqIraq was granted independence by the British in 1933, the
Assyrians suffered the Simele Massacre, where thousands of unarmed
villagers (men, women and children) were slaughtered by joint
Arab-Kurdish forces of the Iraqi Army. The massacres of civilians
followed a clash between armed Assyrian tribesmen and the Iraqi army,
where the Iraqi forces suffered a defeat after trying to disarm the
Assyrians, whom they feared would attempt to secede from Iraq. Armed
Assyrian LeviesAssyrian Levies were prevented by the British from going to the aid of
these civilians, and the British government then whitewashed the
massacres at the League of Nations.
Despite these betrayals, the Assyrians were allied with the British
during World War II, with eleven Assyrian companies seeing action in
Palestine/
IsraelIsrael and another four serving in Greece,
CyprusCyprus and
Albania. Assyrians played a major role in the victory over Arab-Iraqi
forces at the
Battle of HabbaniyaBattle of Habbaniya and elsewhere in 1941, when the
Iraqi government decided to join
World War IIWorld War II on the side of Nazi
Germany. The British presence in
IraqIraq lasted until 1955, and Assyrian
Levies remained attached to British forces until this time, after
which they were disarmed and disbanded.
A further persecution of Assyrians took place in the
Soviet UnionSoviet Union in
the late 1940s and early 1950s when thousands of Assyrians settled in
Georgia,
ArmeniaArmenia and southern Russia were forcibly deported from their
homes in the dead of night by
StalinStalin without warning or reason to
Central Asia, with most being relocated to Kazakhstan, where a small
minority still remain.[81]
Ba'athism (1966–2003)[edit]

The Flag of the Assyrian Nation (created and used since 1968)[82]

The period from the 1940s through to 1963 was a period of respite for
the Assyrians in northern
IraqIraq and north east Syria. The regime of
Iraqi President Kassim in particular saw the Assyrians accepted into
mainstream society. Many urban Assyrians became successful
businessmen, a number of Assyrians moved south to cities such as
Baghdad,
BasraBasra and
NasiriyahNasiriyah to enhance their economic prospects,
others were well represented in politics, the military, the arts and
entertainment, Assyrian towns, villages, farmsteads and Assyrian
quarters in major cities flourished undisturbed, and Assyrians came to
excel and be over-represented in sports such as boxing, football,
athletics, wrestling and swimming.
However, in 1963, the
Ba'ath PartyBa'ath Party took power by force in Iraq, and
came to power in
SyriaSyria the same year. The Baathists, though secular,
were
ArabArab nationalists, and set about attempting to Arabize the many
non-
ArabArab peoples of
IraqIraq and Syria, including the Assyrians. This
policy included refusing to acknowledge the Assyrians as an ethnic
group, banning the publication of written material in Eastern Aramaic,
and banning its teaching in schools, together with an attempt to
Arabize the ancient pre-
ArabArab heritage of
MesopotamianMesopotamian civilisation.
The policies of the Baathists have also long been mirrored in Turkey,
whose nationalist governments have refused to acknowledge the
Assyrians as an ethnic group since the 1920s, and have attempted to
Turkify the Assyrians by calling them "Semitic Turks" and forcing them
to adopt Turkish names and language. In Iran, Assyrians continued to
enjoy cultural, religious and ethnic rights, but due to the Islamic
Revolution of 1979 their community has been diminished.
In the aftermath of the
IraqIraq War of 2003, Assyrians became the targets
of Islamist terrorist attacks and intimidation from both Sunni and
Shia groups, as well as criminal kidnapping organisations; forcing
many in southern and central
IraqIraq to relocate to safer Assyrian
regions in the north of the country or north east Syria.
Syrian Civil War (2012–present)[edit]
Main article:
GenocideGenocide of
ChristiansChristians by ISIL

An Assyrian wedding in Mechelen, Belgium.

In recent years, Assyrians in northern
IraqIraq and north east
SyriaSyria have
become the target of attacks amounting to genocide by Islamist
militants like ISIL and Nusra Front. In 2014, ISIL attacked Assyrian
towns and villages in the Assyrian homelands of northern
IraqIraq and
north east Syria, and Assyrians forced from their homes in cities such
as Mosul had their houses and possessions stolen, both by ISIL and
also by their own former
ArabArabMuslimMuslim neighbours.[83] Assyrian Bronze
Age and
Iron AgeIron Age monuments and archaeological sites, as well as
numerous Assyrian churches and monasteries,[83] have been
systematically vandalised and destroyed by ISIL. These include the
ruins of Nineveh,
KalhuKalhu (Nimrud, Assur,
Dur-SharrukinDur-Sharrukin and
Hatra).[84][85] ISIL destroyed a 3,000 year-old Ziggurat. ISIL
destroyed Virgin Mary Church, in 2015 St. Markourkas Church was
destroyed and the cemetery was bulldozed.[86]
Assyrians in both
IraqIraq and
SyriaSyria [87][88][89] have responded by
forming armed Assyrian militias to defend their territories,[90] and
despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned have had success in
driving ISIL from Assyrian towns and villages, and defending others
from attack.[91][92] Armed Assyrian militias have also fought ISIL
alongside armed groups of Kurds, Turcoman, Yezidis, Syriac-Aramean
Christians, Shabaks, Armenian Christians, Kawilya, Mandeans,
Circassians and Shia
MuslimMuslimArabsArabs and Iranians. “Dewkh Nawsha”,
translates to “the ones who sacrifiace”. The group was formed days
after ISIL took over Mosul. The militia is made up of volunteers, who
come from all over the
NinevehNineveh plain. Dewkh Nawsha is supported by
Assyrian Patriotic Party and are led by Wilson Khammu[86] It is
estimated that nearly 60 percent of Iraqi Assyrians have fled.
Assyrians who have fled have ended up all over the world. 2009 U.S
Census Bureau survey, reported that roughly 100,000 have relocated to
the United States.[93]
Culture[edit]
Main article: Assyrian culture
AssyriaAssyria continued to exist as a geopolitical entity until the
Arab-Islamic conquest in the mid-7th century. Assyrian identity;
personal, family and tribal names; and both the spoken and written
evolution of
MesopotamianMesopotamianAramaicAramaic (which still contains many Akkadian
loan words and an
AkkadianAkkadian grammatical structure) have survived among
the
Assyrian peopleAssyrian people from ancient times to this day. An Assyrian
calendar has been revived.
Language[edit]
Main articles: Sumerian language,
AkkadianAkkadian language,
AramaicAramaic language,
and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

The pastime of an Assyrian King by F.A. Bridgman

Assyrian was a dialect of
AkkadianAkkadian language, a member of the eastern
branch of the Semitic family and the oldest historically attested of
the Semitic languages, which began to appear in written form in the
29th century BC. The first inscriptions in
AssyriaAssyria proper, called Old
Assyrian (OA), were made in the Old Assyrian period.[94] The ancient
Assyrians also used Sumerian in their literature and liturgy,[95]
although to a more limited extent in the Middle- and Neo-Assyrian
periods, when
AkkadianAkkadian became the main literary language.[95]
During the 3rd millennium BC, a very intimate cultural symbiosis
developed between the Sumerians and Akkadian-speakers, which included
widespread bilingualism.[16] The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian
(and vice versa) is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a
massive scale, to syntactic, morphological, and phonological
convergence.[16] This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and
AkkadianAkkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as a sprachbund.[16] Akkadian
gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia
somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the
exact dating being a matter of debate),[17] but Sumerian continued to
be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language in
MesopotamiaMesopotamia until the 1st century AD.
In the
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian period, the
AramaicAramaic language became increasingly
common,[96] more so than Akkadian—this was thought to be largely due
to the mass deportations undertaken by Assyrian kings,[95] in which
large Aramaic-speaking populations, conquered by the Assyrians, were
relocated to
AssyriaAssyria and interbred with the Assyrians, and due to the
fact that
Tiglath-pileser II made it the lingua franca of
AssyriaAssyria and
its empire in the 8th century BC.
The destruction of the Assyrian capitals of
NinevehNineveh and
AssurAssur by the
Babylonians,
MedesMedes and their allies, ensured that much of the
bilingual elite (but not all) were wiped out. By the 7th century BC,
much of the Assyrian population used distinct
AkkadianAkkadian influenced
Eastern
AramaicAramaic varieties and not
AkkadianAkkadian itself. The last Akkadian
inscriptions in
MesopotamiaMesopotamia date from the 1st century AD. The Syriac
language also emerged in
AssyriaAssyria during the 5th century BC, and during
the
ChristianChristian era,
Syriac literatureSyriac literature and
Syriac scriptSyriac script were to become
hugely influential.
However, the descendant
AkkadianAkkadian influenced Eastern
AramaicAramaic dialects
from the
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian Empire, as well as
AkkadianAkkadian and Mesopotamian
AramaicAramaic personal, tribal, family and place names, still survive to
this day among
Assyrian peopleAssyrian people and are spoken fluently by up to
1,000,000 Assyrians, with a further number having lesser and varying
degrees of fluency.[95] These dialects which contain many Akkadian
loan words and grammatical features are very different from the now
almost extinct Western
AramaicAramaic of the
ArameansArameans in the
LevantLevant and
Trans-Jordan, which does not have any
AkkadianAkkadian grammatical structure
or loan words.
After 90 years of effort, the
University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago in 2011 completed
an Assyrian dictionary, the style of which is more like an
encyclopedia than a dictionary.[97]
Religion[edit]
Ancient Assyrian religion[edit]
Main article: Ancient
MesopotamianMesopotamian religion
The Assyrians, like the rest of the
MesopotamianMesopotamian peoples, followed
ancient
MesopotamianMesopotamian religion, with their national god
Ashur having
the most importance to them during the Assyrian Empire. This religion
gradually declined with the advent of
Syriac ChristianitySyriac Christianity between the
first and tenth centuries.[54]
The major deities worshipped in
AssyriaAssyria include;

AdadAdad (Hadad) – storm and rain god
AnuAnu or An – god of heaven and the sky, lord of constellations, and
father of the gods.The name is dervied from Sumero-Akkadian/ana/,
which means heaven; He is considered the father of great gods. In
stories, he is menationed as a father, creator, and god; and is
believed to be the supreme being.[98]
Dagan or
DagonDagon – god of fertility
EnkiEnki or Ea – god of the Abzu, crafts, water, intelligence, mischief
and creation and divine ruler of the Earth and its humans
EreshkigalEreshkigal – goddess of Irkalla, the Underworld
IshtarIshtar or Inanna/
AstarteAstarte – goddess of fertility, love, and war
MardukMarduk – patron deity of
BabylonBabylon who eventually became regarded as
the head of the Babylonian pantheon
NabuNabu – god of wisdom and writing
NansheNanshe – goddess of prophecy, fertility and fishing
NergalNergal – god of plague, war, and the sun in its destructive
capacity; later husband of Ereshkigal
NinhursagNinhursag or Mami, Belet-Ili, Ki, Ninmah, Nintu, or Aruru – earth
and mother goddess
NinlilNinlil – goddess of the air; consort of Enlil
NinurtaNinurta – champion of the gods, the epitome of youthful vigour, and
god of agriculture
Nisroch - god of agriculture. Some other religions also consider him
the fallen angel or demon.[98]
NuskuNusku - The messenger for the Gods. “"the offspring of the abyss,
the creation of Êa," and "the likeness of his father, the first-born
of Bel."
NuskuNusku was also considered a great commander, counselor of the
gods, and protector of gods in heaven. Assyrian kings mention Nusku
many times, especially before wars;
NuskuNusku was fearless in battle.[98]
ShamashShamash or
UtuUtu – god of the sun, arbiter of justice and patron of
travellers
SinSin or Nanna – god of the moon. Considered to be the prince of the
gods. Described as having a perfect body: everything from beard to
horns is perfect. The name is believed to come from “Zu-ena” but
was changed at some point. Zu-ena means “knowledge-lord”.
SinSin is
also mentioned in other religions in Babylonia[98]
Tammuz or Dumuzi – god of food and vegetation
Tiamat

The original pagan religion of the Assyrians was widely adhered to
until around the 4th century, and survived in pockets until at least
the 10th century.[54] However, Assyrians today are exclusively
Christian, with most following the Assyrian Church of the East,
Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox
Church, Syriac Catholic Church,
Assyrian Pentecostal Church and
Assyrian Evangelical Church. Assyrians had begun to adopt Christianity
(as well as for a time
ManicheanismManicheanism and gnosticism) between the 1st
and 3rd centuries AD.
ChristianChristian history of the Assyrian people[edit]
The
Assyrian peopleAssyrian people originally adhered to one of two Churches- The
Assyrian Church of the East, an
East Syrian RiteEast Syrian Rite Church, or the Syriac
Orthodox Church, a
West Syrian RiteWest Syrian Rite Church. However, now there are
nearly 20 different Assyrian
ChristianChristian Churches including the ones
followed by ethnically
MalayaliMalayali Converts in India, known as St Thomas
ChristiansChristians who are not regarded as Assyrians. The first new Church
formed around 100 years after the massacres by Timur during the 14th
century due to the Schism of 1552, which occurred among the Assyrians
of northern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia when a large number of Nestorian (followers of
the Assyrian Church of the East) Assyrians in
AmidAmid elected a rival
PatriarchPatriarch named
Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa after becoming
dissatisfied with the leadership of the Assyrian Church (at this point
based in Alqosh). Due to a need for an official ordination, Sulaqa
went into communion with the
Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Church after at first
failing to gain acceptance within the Syriac Orthodox Church. Rome
named this new church The
Church of Assyria and MosulChurch of Assyria and Mosul and its first
leader
PatriarchPatriarch of the East Assyrians in 1553 AD.
Soon after coming back Sulaqa was assassinated by supporters of the
rival patriarch in Alqosh, but was able to form a new church structure
and line of succession known as the Shimun Line prior to his death.
This group of Assyrians eventually broke off ties with Rome, moved en
masse to the
HakkariHakkari Mountains, and returned to the Nestorian faith
they once adhered to prior to the
Schism of 1552Schism of 1552 (although the Shimun
line still operated independently from the original Assyrian Church
structure based in Alqosh).
A decade or so before the Shimun line broke off ties with Rome,
another faction within the Assyrian Church entered into communion with
Rome known as the Josephite line, and upon the Shimun line leaving,
inherited the now vacant Church of
AssyriaAssyria and Mosul, which was
renamed the "Chaldean Catholic Church" in 1683. This is now believed
to be due to an error by the Catholic Church, but now due to that
error their followers became known as
Chaldean CatholicsChaldean Catholics or
Chaldo-AssyriansChaldo-Assyrians despite having no ethnic, historical, linguistic,
cultural or geographic connections whatsoever to the by now long
extinct Chaldean tribe of south east Mesopotamia.[69]
Later on in the 1830s the original Assyrian Church of the East
structure in
AlqoshAlqosh combined with the Chaldean Catholic Jacobite one,
creating the modern
Chaldean Catholic ChurchChaldean Catholic Church structure, which is
ironic considering that the only remaining ethnic Assyrian Church to
practice the Assyrian
Church of the EastChurch of the East denomination until this day
is ruled by the Shimun line- the very first Church to split from the
Assyrian
Church of the EastChurch of the East back in 1552. There was also another
Nestorian Denomination known as the Ancient Church of the East, which
split from the Assyrian
Church of the EastChurch of the East due to reforms passed under
the rule of
Shimun XXIII EshaiShimun XXIII Eshai in the 1960s, but with the election of
Gewargis IIIGewargis III in 2015 the churches had a reconciliation, and reunited.
The
Syriac Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox Church also has a large number of ethnically
Assyrian Adherents mainly in the historically Assyrian regions of
north east
SyriaSyria and south east Turkey, who are known as Syriacs. The
Syriac Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox Church has 5 million adherents across the globe,
mostly in India, but is based in Damascus. However, since the 11th
century it was based in the
Saffron MonasterySaffron Monastery of Tur Abdin, and prior
to that it was based in Antioch. Like the Nestorian churches, schisms
also occurred within the Syriac Orthodox Church.
In 1626
JesuitJesuit and Capuchin missionaries began to proselytize among
the Syriac Orthodox faithful at Aleppo, forming a larger pro-catholic
movement within the Syriac Orthodox Church. So in 1662, when the
Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate had fallen vacant, the Catholic party was
able to elect one of its own, Andrew Akijan as
PatriarchPatriarch of the Syriac
Church. This provoked a split in the community, and after Akijan's
death in 1677 two opposing patriarchs were elected, with one of those
becoming the first
PatriarchPatriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church. This line
of succession died out quickly, however, but in 1782 with the election
of Michael Jarweh as
PatriarchPatriarch the Ignatius line has been the head of
the
Syriac Catholic ChurchSyriac Catholic Church since then, and also has its base in
Damascus.
Some Assyrians converted to
ProtestantismProtestantism during the 20th century as
well, forming the
Assyrian Pentecostal Church and Assyrian Evangelical
Church among others.
Therefore, by the end of all the schisms which occurred, the Assyrian
people are now followers of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean
Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church,
Syriac Catholic Church,
Assyrian Pentecostal Church and Assyrian
Evangelical Church- in addition to even more sub churches which are
located in
IndiaIndia that are adherent to the mother sees in the Middle
East.
Architecture[edit]
Main article: Architecture of Mesopotamia
Assyrian architecture, like that of Babylonia, was influenced by
Sumero-
AkkadianAkkadian styles (and to some degree Mitanni), but early on
developed its own distinctive style. Palaces sported colourful wall
decorations, and seal-cutting (an art learned from Mittani) developed
apace. Schools for scribes taught both the Babylonian and Assyrian
dialects of Akkadian, and Sumerian and
AkkadianAkkadian literary works were
often copied with an Assyrian flavour.
The Assyrian dialect of
AkkadianAkkadian was used in legal, official,
religious, and practical texts such as medicine or instructions on
manufacturing items. During the 13th to 10th centuries, picture tales
appeared as a new art form: a continuous series of images carved on
square stone steles. Somewhat reminiscent of a comic book, these show
events such as warfare or hunting, placed in order from the upper left
to the lower right corner of the stele with captions written
underneath them. These and the excellent cut seals show that Assyrian
art was beginning to surpass that of Babylon. Architecture saw the
introduction of a new style of ziggurat, with two towers and colorful
enameled tiles.
Arts and Sciences[edit]
Main article: Art of Mesopotamia

Assyrian art preserved to the present day predominantly dates to the
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian period. Art depicting battle scenes, and occasionally the
impaling of whole villages in gory detail, was intended to show the
power of the emperor, and was generally made for propaganda purposes.
These stone reliefs lined the walls in the royal palaces where
foreigners were received by the king. Other stone reliefs depict the
king with different deities and conducting religious ceremonies. Many
stone reliefs were discovered in the royal palaces at
NimrudNimrud (Kalhu)
and
KhorsabadKhorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin). A rare discovery of metal plates
belonging to wooden doors was made at
BalawatBalawat (Imgur-Enlil).

Assyrian sculpture reached a high level of refinement in the
Neo-AssyrianNeo-Assyrian period. One prominent example is the winged bull lamassu
or shedu that guard the entrances to the king's court. These were
apotropaic meaning they were intended to ward off evil. C. W. Ceram
states in The March of Archaeology that lamassi were typically
sculpted with five legs so that four legs were always visible, whether
the image were viewed frontally or in profile.
Although works of precious gems and metals usually do not survive the
ravages of time, some fine pieces of Assyrian jewelry were found in
royal tombs at Nimrud.
There is ongoing discussion among academics over the nature of the
NimrudNimrud lens, a piece of quartz unearthed by
Austen Henry LayardAusten Henry Layard in
1850, in the
NimrudNimrud palace complex in northern Iraq. A small minority
believe that it is evidence for the existence of ancient Assyrian
telescopes, which could explain the great accuracy of Assyrian
astronomy. Other suggestions include its use as a magnifying glass for
jewellers, or as a decorative furniture inlay. The
NimrudNimrud Lens is held
in the British Museum.[99]
The Assyrians were also innovative in military technology, with the
use of heavy cavalry, sappers, siege engines etc.
Legacy[edit]
Main articles: Achaemenid Assyria, Assyriology, and Assyrian
nationalism

Achaemenid AssyriaAchaemenid Assyria (539–330 BC) retained a separate identity,
official correspondence being in Imperial Aramaic, and there was even
a determined revolt of the two Assyrian provinces of Mada and Athura
in 520 BC. Under Seleucid rule, however,
AramaicAramaic gave way to Greek as
the official administrative language.
AramaicAramaic was marginalised as an
official language, but remained spoken in both
AssyriaAssyria and Babylonia
by the general populace. It also remained the spoken tongue of the
indigenous Assyrian/Babylonian citizens of all
MesopotamiaMesopotamia under
Persian, Greek and Roman rule, and indeed well into the
ArabArab period it
was still the language of the majority, particularly in the north of
Mesopotamia, surviving to this day among the Assyrian Christians.
Between 150 BC and 226 AD,
AssyriaAssyria changed hands between the Parthian
EmpireEmpire and the Romans until coming under the rule of the Sasanian
EmpireEmpire from 226–651, where it was known as Asōristān.
A number of at least partly neo-Assyrian kingdoms existed in the area
between in the late classical and early
ChristianChristian period also;
Adiabene,
HatraHatra and Osroene.
Classical historiographers and Biblical writers had only retained a
fragmented, very dim and often inaccurate picture of Assyria. It was
remembered that there had been an Assyrian empire predating the
Persian one, but all particulars were lost. Thus Jerome's Chronicon
lists 36 kings of the Assyrians, beginning with Ninus, son of Belus,
down to Sardanapalus, the last king of the Assyrians before the empire
fell to
Arbaces the Median. Almost none of these have been
substantiated as historical, with the exception of the Neo-Assyrian
and Babylonian rulers listed in the Canon of Kings, beginning with
Nabonassar.
The Assyrians began to form and adopt a distinct Eastern Christianity,
with its accompanying Syriac literature, between the 1st and 3rd
centuries AD; however, ancient
MesopotamianMesopotamian religion was still alive
and well into the fourth century and pockets survived into the 10th
century and possibly as late as the 17th century in Mardin.[citation
needed][100] However, the religion is now dead, and the Assyrian
people, though still retaining Eastern
AramaicAramaic dialects as a mother
tongue, are now wholly Christian.
The modern discovery of
BabyloniaBabylonia and
AssyriaAssyria begins with excavations
in
NinevehNineveh in 1845, which revealed the Library of Ashurbanipal.
Decipherment of the cuneiform script was a formidable task that took
more than a decade; but, by 1857, the Royal Asiatic Society of Great
Britain and Ireland was convinced that reliable reading of cuneiform
texts was possible.
AssyriologyAssyriology has since pieced together the formerly
largely forgotten history of Mesopotamia. In the wake of the
archaeological and philological rediscovery of ancient Assyria,
Assyrian nationalismAssyrian nationalism became increasingly popular among the surviving
remnants of the Assyrian people, who have come to strongly identify
with ancient Assyria.
Notes[edit]

Achaemenid Assyria
Ancient Church of the East
Assur
Assuristan
Assyrian Christians
Assyrian Church of the East
Assyrian culture
Assyrian Evangelical Church
Assyrian Genocide
Assyrian nationalism
Assyrian Pentecostal Church
Assyrian people
Assyrian struggle for independence
Babylonia
Chaldea
Chaldean Catholic Church
Church of the East
Eastern Aramaic
List of Assyrians
MesopotamianMesopotamian religion
Name of Syria
Syriac language
Syriac Orthodox Church

AssyriaAssyria on Ancient History Encyclopedia
"Assyria", LookLex Encyclopedia
Theophilus G. Pinches, The Religion of
BabyloniaBabylonia and
AssyriaAssyria in "btm"
format
Morris Jastrow, Jr., The Civilization of
BabyloniaBabylonia and Assyria: its
remains, language, history, religion, commerce, law, art, and
literature, London: Lippincott (1915)—a searchable facsimile at the
University of Georgia Libraries; also available in layered PDF format